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Swamps, Stages, Sun, and Sweat (Glastonbury ...continued)

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Friday arrived damp and drizzly. We donned wellies (and clothes, I wasn't allowed to wander naked, the teen DD had forbidden it, tsk, teens eh) And headed down to the festival for some breakfast. The field by the Other Stage was a quagmire. Proper sticky, slippy Glastonbury mud. Hungover festival goers slithered and slid along the walkways, sometimes falling with a satisfying 'splat'. We stopped for breakfast of bacon and egg in a bap (well I did, DD claimed not to be hungry) and then walked about in the mud, we squelched onward and suddenly were forced, FORCED, to eat warm blackberry and apple pie with cream, when we spotted the aptly named Just Desserts (absolutely scrumptious!)

We then staggered onward to the kids field as DD had been dying to visit and see what was going on there. By this time the sun was out, so I lounged while she played in the spider tower, the pingpong thunderdome and other assorted amusements. I wasn't just watching beards (I was).
Later we went to Williams Green to meet Lemon Fancy at the Ecover Bee, we also bumped into Ptolemy the bee's creator. We chatted, admired the bee and then popped into the 'souper' Soup Library, a place we discovered last year at Wilderness, and one we were delighted to see again.

We were sad to miss Amanda Palmer but DD was very happy to catch up with Rita Ora's set on the Pyramid stage.
We had pizza (cooked in a wood fired oven, smokey goodness) for lunch, and also had to eat crumpets after spotting old friends from Camp Bestival the Strumpets with Crumpets (I seem to have turned into a Glastonbury food critic and it's true we did eat ALL THE TIME! but it's hard work festivalling) DD had two luxury jam crumpets, while I had the Bloody Mary - best crumpet ever!

In one of the shops DD cunningly bought a Jessie J T-shirt for a £5 (I say cunning, it was priced at £10, I said no, the guy selling instantly reduced it LOL) And then we went to the Cider Bus for beard watching warm cider. We could hear The Vaccines playing from there so it seemed churlish to move, it's a bit blurred at this point to be honest. :-)
We went to watch the rather fab and funny Dizzee Rascal complete with swearing and balloons, a rather spirited and fun performance that DD loved, and we stayed for the Arctic Monkeys set too because I rather love them.
After dark we went back to Williams Green to see the bee in the dark, and it didn't disappoint, cunning light effects rippled over its body and it looked amazing.

Saturday Morning broke bright and warm. The mud had all dried, and after an ostrich burger for breakfast we were off!The green kids field was first on the list as DD was obsessed with the climbing wall there. The people in the field were so lovely and friendly too, oh and we were dressed as bees.

We took a walk up to The Park to the Crow's Nest hoping to see Professor Brian Cox but it was so busy we couldn't even get close, reminded me of stories of people trying to hear Jesus! So we took photos of the lovely view over the festival, and had some lunch then walked back past the stone circle (where we saw the most romantic of marriage proposals, he: down on one knee, she:crying and saying yes, everyone:hugging)
We went to watch some comedy next, DD's choice, and chanced on Torann Drummers (young, hunky, sweaty topless drummers, what's not to like?) and then listened to Jeremy Hardy and some other people that raised a giggle or two.
Tea was a fishfinger butty while watching stunt men lay on beds of nails. Which fortified us to go and see The Proclaimers in the Accoustic tent.

We nipped back to the tent for chairs and shmangles so we would be comfy for The Rolling Stones later. The field was heaving with fans and we were far far away but it was amazing. I was exhausted just watching them for over two hours, incredible the stamina they have and Mick was clearly loving it all.

Sunday. Dressed as bees again today after washing our hair in a bucket by the tent, no queueing at showers for us! Even though there were free showers in the Green Futures field, stocked with Ecover products.
We caught a bit of Zulu Winter on the Other Stage, and DD danced about with her breakfast ostrich.
We went to the West Holt stage to see Riot Jazz (mostly by accident, you really do find all the best things by accident at festivals)

Then we spent an hour or so at the Circus Pavement (DD's favourite spot) watching such great acts as Great Dave, Billy Kid and Mr H. (no Photos of Billy Kidd though - too busy cringing as she dislocated her shoulder to escape from a straight jacket)

And at 1:30 we were back at the Other stage for what turned out to be my favourite act of the festival (and the cruel BBC didn't film it!!) Stornoway, so there I sat sipping gin from a tin, listening to lovely music on hard baked earth that had been a swamp only days before.
Lianne La Havas (someone we discovered at Wilderness and instantly loved) was great on the West Holt stage later, I sat eating Goan Fish Curry (delicious and very spicy) while listening.
Mumford and Sons performed a stonking set later, much of which we listened to from the comfort of bed, we really are wimpy festival goers :-)
Monday. I'd been dreading getting the trolley back up the hill but I needn't have worried. Delightful friendly men helped us at every steep bit, one guy helped push for so long that we awarded him a medal (I bought some at the 99p stores for just an occasion such as this, we had already awarded one to one of the litter picking team) and so we were gone, driving away from several days of action packed fun. I miss being in the tent, I can't wait for the next festival.

All the photos you've already seen plus a whole load more are in the slide show below. (Well done if you read this far)

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